REF: General-MSR 30

Notable Quotes

XLForum

This is a forum. By definition and by nature it is a place for sharing knowledge and experience.
We are very fortunate here that we have many experts,
but it is not a place where you should expect expert guidance every time.
Everybody, beginners, iron people, evo people, everyone should share to the best of their ability.
Being wrong here is ok, and it is a way to learn.
When you read advice or guidance, wait a day before doing something,
especially if you are new to the forum or unfamiliar with the person posting the info.
But please, it is most important that everyone share to the best of their ability.
If we were to rely only on a few experts there would be much less learning going on,
and the experts would quickly get burned out. (IronMick)

Wisdom

If you think of the IronHead as never having had any left threads you would do quite well -(IronMick)

I remember Dr Dick saying to me, anything that feels off now on the bench will be amplified when everything is installed and the engine is running - (doodah man)

Most Sportster problems are owner induced - (Author Unknown)

Ya…i saw a guy do this once… - (Dr Dick)

All of us will be older and have more riding experience than SOMEONE. (Sandman883)

All of us will be younger and have less riding experience than SOMEONE.

Stereotypes will always be around, even the President and the Pope can’t stop that, so I know I sure as heck can’t, so I ain’t going to worry about it.

Keeping all of the above in mind, we have to understand it’s about RESPECT. We all need to give respect, but of course the world is not perfect and there are going to be times when we don’t. Then another word comes to mind: TOLERANCE.

This concludes todays sermon, now hand me a damn beer and let’s get ready to fire up that grill!

For what it’s worth, if I have to ride in a group (which isn't very often, if at all) I wanna be in the front, or the very last dude well behind. This way I don’t have to watch any carnage behind me, or I can see what’s gonna happen and have a chance to avoid it

As a footnote, I’ve been riding for well over 40 years and I’m still alive an well to talk about it, and the other secret is to ride about a quarter mile ahead of your bike - (vpats)

George Carlin explained this more than a decade ago.

Anyone on the highway who is going slower than us is a moron (can't drive, get off the road)

Anyone on the highway who is going faster than us is a crazy asshole (gonna kill someone)

We all have our needs and desires

A bike that can't meet them is ‘useless’

A bike that exceeds them is ‘excessive’ - (Bone)(George Carlin)

Never underestimate the stupidity of the average driver - (Sleeper)

When you weld, you WILL get war-page that accompanies that welding. (DR DICK)

(when welding) Sometimes repairing the war-page is a bigger job than the original repair (brucstoudt)

My recommendation is that any recommendation is just a starting point for your specific bike and any carb setting may have to be changed to work best on your bike. Learn how to tune carbs, not just copy other recommendations. (XLXR)

Most carburetor problems really are electrical, just like the old timers always say. (Hopper)

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. (every wise mechanic)

After 10 years of putting food on my table from working on ironheads dawn to dusk, I knew just about every thing. - [knowledge]. At 20 years, I learned much more than I knew at 10 years… and now I didn't know squat. - [wisdom]. (Dr Dick)

These may be Ironheads, but beware of mods made by Cementheads. (Dr Dick)

Why stir up that insanity when its so elementary to work around it. (Dr Dick)

I may never need to use what I just read but I now have the knowledge of what it takes. (ezmerf)

You're going to end up where you look. So don't look at where you're afraid you'll end up, look at where you want to be (Dick Mann)

It doesn't matter how close you get. As a matter of physics “as long as two objects do not try to occupy the same space at the same time, there will never be a problem. ” this is as true for pistons to valves as it is for two racers on a track (ReddTigger)

A motorcycle coming down from 30 feet at 70 mph gives you a terrible jolt (Evel Knievel)

The Only Exhaust Truth I Know, Almost Anything Will Work Well Somewhere But Nothing Works Well Everywhere… (nemosengineer@yahoo.com)

Performance is equivalent to improvement. To judge improvement you need a baseline. Shouldn't that be an unmodified carb? (Dr Dick)

In order to build a reliable bike, you don't need to know how to put it together correct. You need to:

Identify problems.

Discover why.

Rectify the cause.

File that experience in your knowledge pit.

Apply that knowledge every time you think there may be a problem. (Dr Dick)

The simplest answers are the most likely. (cantolina)

Preventative maintenance sure beats pushing (sportsterdoc)

The first 50 times are the hardest. (trappnman)

Knowing, or at least being familiar with, the rules, the limits and the reasons for the status quo is, or should be, a prerequisite to breaking them.
Otherwise you are just flailing around in the dark hoping you hit the lottery before you blow your sh!t up. (bitpusher)

The other side of not listening to the status quo is that every now and then something new and different comes out of us going in our own direction.
We only hope that it isn't too painfully expensive. (Gcram399)

Top ends are like tires and chains. They are only new before the 1st ride.
They wear with time. How long they last is directly related to how much degradation you consider as 'too much'. (Dr Dick)

Paying someone to chop a cam cover is like paying for sand at the beach…. It ain't that hard. (JonnyRtn)

Diagnostics

The time to diagnose is on disassembly as soon as problems show up. There is much more evidence when the crime scene is undisturbed. (Dr Dick)

Every M/C rider should have a voltmeter/ohmmeter (multimeter) and post voltage values when asking about a problem - (sportsterdoc)

It is better to know the problem than to throw money at it. (Bustert)

Problems are caused, they rarely just happen. (Mattbastard)

Humor

I tried to think, but nothing happened - (HrdlyDangrs)

There are 10 sorts of folk who understand binary, those that do and those that don’t - (Whiffy)

I'm not allowed to die until the government finds a safe place to bury my liver! - (PlanB)

Sometimes it takes a whole tankful of gas before you can think straight - (Debster)

Been chatting to a 14 year old girl online. She's funny, sexy and flirty. Now she tells me she is an undercover cop! How cool is that at her age!? - (Durockrolly)

I spent most of my money on women, whiskey, and motorcycles. The rest, I just wasted - (Stairman)

Why do people say “Grow some balls”? Balls are weak and sensitive. If you really wanna get tough, grow a vagina. Those things take a pounding - (comedian, Betty White)

I swear if I ever drop my pants to adjust my underwear in front of a crowd, please shoot me. (barefoot)

If there is no beer involved….neither am I. (80's AL)

Every so often the sun shines on a dog's ass. (Model H)

Even a blind dog can shit in the woods sometimes (bigjohnsonrod)

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut sometimes (brianbbs67)

No, it's “A blind Pig can find an acorn every now and then” (simeli)

If it has boobs or wheels it's going to give you problems (sportytrash)

People are more violently opposed to fur than leather because it's safer to harass rich women than motorcycle gangs (Alexei Sayle)

Let's burn some dust, kids! Eat my rubber! (Clark Griswold)

You know what, I really REALLY regret not having been able to buy Harley underwear when I was young…
That's why I'm so bitter these days… (thefrenchowl)

Arguing with an engineer is like wrestling with a pig. Sooner or later, you realize they like it. (XLXR)

Good thing I tightened my nuts, and fixed the bike too. (flathead45)

I'm saving up for a new petcock to make it really fast. (whispanic)

I originally thought this was a sports forum (Sport-Ed)

It doesn't matter if anybody else thinks I'm funny as long as I do. (Gunhappy2)

If my aunt had balls she'd be my uncle. (gravydog)

I've seen forums that won't allow you to say “petcock”. I guess they don't like pets. (drhach)

This just verifies what I thought from the beginning, That everyone on this forum has a few loose nuts. (Johnny G)

The cool thing about being a Harley rider… you can talk all you want about your nuts… (MusclePump)

The only “squintching” I get is when I corner too fast (along with some “puckering”) (TheDinglepuss)

I finally got out to the garage to exercise my right to cut sh!t up. (Johnny Wolf)

The maintenance supervisor doesn't usually let people use the shop for personal projects, but I'm the maintenance supervisor.
I don't think I'll tell myself no. (Blacktooth Grin)

The best method (for polishing aluminum) I've used was a teenaged son with a bad report card.
He graduated an I've had dull aluminum ever since. (smeff)

All my parts are bolt-on … first you bolt it on a lathe, then you bolt it on the mill. (barefoot)

The fact that the front turn signals looked like dog penises after I relocated them bugged the hell outta me. (ccain)

In my best Rosanna Roasannadanna voice, “never mind”. (aswracing)

I think I was in prison in a past life at some point, I'm pretty handy with a hand file. (vwclogan)

My Harley farts…..but only when it has GAS. (Buellrunner)

If I have learned anything in this life, its never the beer's fault. (brianbbs67)

One day, I will find the person that invented spirolox….and crush his testicles with a set of vice grips.
Because it's the getting them back out without messing up the piston that drives you nuts. (hcrashster)

I have crashed at least once on every bike I have ever owned… I wait patiently for the crashes. (Campsurf)

If you're paying a dealer to change your oil …. you are being serviced. (Gone)

I wonder if that $350 oil change comes with KY jelly. (ironheadjim)

Prophetic

Member of the Church of the four stroke gospel - (rokytnji)

I strongly believe that there is a balance with everything. Motorcycles, cars, children, pets, women; doesn't matter. Once you achieve that balance you cannot change it. I have had things go wrong with my truck until it got to the point where I didn't need to fix it, I just settled on that as being what was wrong. In the last 4 years nothing has gone wrong with it. Before that time, something went wrong within a week of me fixing something. It has happened to me with most things I care about. I have come to understand that I need to live with certain quirks that happen to the things I love. I will never have a perfect existence and as long as I accept things I will be happy. Old adage: If it ain't broke, don't fix it. New adage: If it is broke, decide if that is the least of your worries - (Vegas1200C)

I used to pray to god to give me a Harley, then I found out he don't work that way, so I stole a Harley and prayed for forgiveness - (Flathead45)

Two paths diverged in the woods and I choose the one with tire tracks. It is sometimes a rocky mother but you never know what’s around the next bend - (Rottenralph)

It doesn't matter where you are going or how fast you are going, if you’re on a Sportster you get there too soon! - (Thumper26)

When that bike first shows up in frame, you can see the bike wiggle a little, he was trying to brake, probably felt the back end wiggle a little and then just quit riding, and started getting ready for the fall. I believe he could have made the turn (I know all about the armchair quarterback crap so save it). I’ve been in similar a situation on my wing and just remembered a comment my IP told me about flying, dont ever stop flying the aircraft, until it crashes. And I think the same lesson can be applied here, dont EVER stop riding (read CONTROLLING) the bike until you actually do crash - (Avnsteve)

An acquaintance is someone who helps you move. A friend is someone who helps you move the body - (Bugsy Siegel)

I sorta gave up on life at one point Bill, and was headed in a very wrong direction. And thanks to a wise old man (an old biker full of scars, both inside and out!), I realized the two golden rules:

1. Don’t sweat the small stuff! and

2. It’s all small stuff! RIP Bobby Clark - (milmat1)

There are 2 secrets to life that I live by:

Never tell anyone all your secrets. (CaptNDirt)

Everything will be OK in the end. If it's not OK, it's not the end - (Shameless)

If nobody came back from the future to stop you, it wasn't that bad a decision - (The Crusher)

Othering is a way of defining and securing one’s own positive identity through the stigmatization of an ‘other’. Whatever the markers of social differentiation that shape the meaning of ‘us’ and ‘them’, whether they are racial, geographic, ethnic, economic or ideological, there is always the danger that they will become the basis for a self affirmation that depends upon the denigration of the other group. … In other words, convenient though othering is as a way of propping up one’s ego, it has an inherent fragility because it must constantly be fed by the illusory inferiority of the ‘other’; and is thus constantly at risk of being discredited. - (grindbastard)

I live in eternal optimism, that someday I'll lead a horse to water, and I'll actually get him to think….. (trappnman)

The only one elite in my life was a beautiful Australian Shepherd and I shot him for biting me. (Hippysmack)

You will have to visit me on the mountain top to get this info. And bring a virgin to sacrifice. (Iron Mick)

The purpose of these forums is to take on different experiences and ideas. The Bike Owner-Builder can then take his own direction and go with it as we do here in a free society USA. (Monte03)

900's are special bikes. They are not like any bikes before or any after. These are feisty - provoke them and they will bite. (Dr Dick)

There is a certain quality that old riders possess that some of us gravitate to. I call it shiny on the inside. (Dr Dick)

Our Harley in the Garage
Hallowed be thy name
Your v2 will come
Your back tire will be done
For Sturgis as for Daytona Beach
Give us your daily vibrations
And forgive us our customizations
As for we forgive those who bought Japanese bikes
Lead us not into speed limits
But deliver us from highway patrols
For the chrome and the sound and the torque are yours
Now and forever
Amen (bobberman66)

Lessons of Life Gwasshoppa:
Give a man a tool, teach him how to use it and he will make a living.
Build a bike together and you have nurtured something special.
Someone to ride with, someone worthy to share a chilled beverage with and someone who will not call you out on a whopper fib…… well, maybe. (Turbo Sporty 48)

Had Enough

Don't piss me off, because I've run out of places to hide the bodies - (xena)

Helicoil it shut for life. When you're done, go into the backyard and pound yourself in the nutsack with a baseball until you black out for even considering a re-tap. 1)

Girls Bike

Naw, I don't sweat it .. the BT's usually have to run stops signs to catch up to tell me this is a girl's ride. I usually just smile and pull another bug from between my tooths, and say yeah .. I knows - (vpats)

I really don't care what you ride, what you wear when you ride, how often you ride or your reason for riding. If you were born with motorcycle oil in your blood or you're just having a mid life crisis, it matters little to me. Vespa or V-ROD, I make no judgments. If you're on two wheels on the road, you're a friend of mine - (Dagsportster)

I never, ever tire of hearing that a sportster is a girly bike. Hell it’s one of the funniest, stupidest things I have ever heard. I’m happy when someone says that, it’s at that moment I realize what a meathead I am dealing with. It’s nice when they give you a heads up - (cgp-1200R)

I can't say I know too many actual bikers who don't or haven't owned a sportster so none of them down them except maybe in friendly jest. When someone says something seriously about it being a girl's bike or half a Harley all I hear is “I'm a wannabe”, so I really don't care about their opinion in the first place. Comments like that say a lot more about the person commenting than it does about my bike. Usually my thought when I hear those kind of comments is “there's ten seconds of my life I'd like back” - (CaveDog)

I've paid my dues when it comes to riding so I have nothing to prove. I feel I've earned the right to ride whatever strikes my fancy. The only reason someone would down Sportsters is if they feel like they still have something to prove, which is all I really need to know about them - (CaveDog)

I will proudly say to anyone that it takes a tough person to ride a Sportster all day long, but ANYONE can ride a Softail Heritage the same distance or time. Anyone who calls a Sportster a 'girls' bike (like that is supposed to be a derogative statement anyhow) doesn't know what the hell they are talking about and doesn't deserve to be heard. I will forever have a ton of respect for anyone (male or female) who does more than bar hop on a Sportster - (Shu)

Girls bike, guys bike, same thing. Sex makes no difference in riding ability. As long as you’re in the wind who cares what you ride - (the48sportyrider)

Poser

Owning a BT doesn't make you a poser. Thinking that you are superior to other bikers because of what they ride makes you a poser - (Sweet Terry Smoove)

This discussion again? I think I would prefer to be a poser than sit around talking about what constitutes being one - (Wedge)

We are all posers in some way. By that, I mean we take on a certain posture or pose to reflect a certain image. Our black leather jackets always get an emotional response going. Our bikes, just by us riding, evoke emotions in people good bad or indifferent but never ignored, except when they make a left hand turn. (Loner)

Sportster Ownership

If it ain't broke, take it apart and see why the #*&% not! - (JeePing)

Wrench, Ride, Repeat (author unknown)

There is nothing, absolutely nothing, like the look, sound and feel of original Harley Davidson Iron 2)

The 1st rule of Ironhead ownership: Never guess. (doodah man)

The 2nd rule of Ironhead ownership: If in doubt, do as the factory did. (Dr Dick)

The neat thing about Sportsters is that they can be many things to many people. A real curve runner, a touring bike, a chopper, a bobber, a hot rod, a show bike, whatever. (merc)

A Sportster is not a couch. It's a SPORTster.

It will not get you women.. (It can help open the lines of conversation however). But, if your so ugly that you couldn't get xxxx in a women's prison with a fistful of pardons, then IT WILL NOT GET YOU WOMEN… whereas a Porsche or Lamborghini might..

It will save you money.. You'll find something to change on it, eventually.. more often for some of us.. (ReddTigger)

We’re on the road to unprecedented prosperity in the country and we’ll get there on a Harley. (President Ronald Reagan)

This bike was fairly problem free for about 6 months and then it just feels like hitting me with a 12 pack of sh!t pudding. (JBGoode)

Women

I subscribe to the theory that ALL women are like motorcycles.

They take all yer money and will kill you in a heartbeat.

Ya love the one ya got but ya still wanna ride almost every one ya see… - (Mosey)

Men

Bikes other than Sporty's

Don't know about the rest of you all but I learned how to ride on a metric. So for me to bag on somebody who rides one now would make me look like an idiot and a hypocrite. Same goes for the different models of HD. Knees in the breeze baby that's what it's all about - (cherokee jim)

Come to think of it, I've never seen a chase truck behind a pack of Beemers. (sportytrash)

Those extreme-sports kids today are good, but they have it easy. Try falling off of a motorcycle going 70 or 80 miles per hour on asphalt. Believe me, nothing equals it (Evel Knievel)

If I'm out trailriding, I have a favorite motorcycle. Riding on the road, I've got a favorite. If I'm jumping, I have a favorite, and if I'm racing, I have a favorite (Evel Knievel)

Happiness

Happiness is finding that delicate balance between ‘riding it like you stole it’ and ‘not riding faster than your Guardian Angel can fly!’ - (one intruder)

My wife is gone with my best friend, gee I miss him so much - (rejeanprimeau's friend)

My wife put her foot down and said it's either her or the bike. God I'm going to miss her - (Sleeper)

How the hell would I sneak those past the Mrs…. I think she's half onto me. ..all these deliveries of shiny bits that make me happy can't be cheap!!! (russzx6)

It was fun all the way up to the crash (Lockman)

Easily amused and let loose with a machine shop = tons of useless abuse of good metal and sometimes I can use the results. (Hippysmack)

Racing

When God created the Earth, He also created Bonneville - His own dynamometer - and God saw that it was good. So did Vance Breece. (Joe Minton)

Racing is not necessarily going 100 MPH around a curve. Racing is going 6 MPH around a 5 MPH curve. (Sterling Moss).

Horsepower - how fast you hit the wall. Torque - how far you move the wall when you hit it. (kingy)

Horsepower costs money. How fast do you want to go? Good, fast, and cheap. Pick any 2. (rivethog)

Second place is the first looser. If you're gonna race, might as well win. (randy3934)

You don't feather the clutch or dump the throttle . What you do is LET THE BITCH EAT ! (reportedly from John Jay Gleason)

When in doubt , gas it. (Corky Keener)

In order to finish 1st, 1st you must finish. (rivethog)

I may be slow, but I'm ahead of you (rivethog)

And the first thing you gotta learn if you're gonna be a racecar driver, is that you don't listen to losers like your know-it-all teacher here. Your teacher wants you to go slow, and she's wrong because it's the fastest who get paid and it's the fastest who get laid. Okay, we have got to get that car back onto the race track or our sponsors are gonna shit a chicken. Now I'm gonna ask you: do any of you guys wanna go fast? I wanna go fast!- (Ricky Bobby)

The plaque for the alternates is down in the ladies room. - (Iceman)

The only thing faster than cubic inches, are rectangular dollars“. (Mickey Thompson 1969)

They don't pay me enough to ride this thing (King Kenny)

It wasn’t a bad run, but after the third flip I lost control (Don Roberts)

I have gone faster, backwards - upside down and ON FIRE than most people have gone at all (“Big Daddy” Don Garlits)

A man lives more in 5 minutes running flat out on a bike than most do in a life time (Bert Munroe)

They all run their best right before they blow up (scooby)

I'm gonna miss the smell of nitro on a Sunday afternoon (author unknown)

If you ain't crashing then you ain't riding close enough to your limits (author unknown)

The Hot Rodder's Rule: If some is good, more's better and too much is just right (author unknown)

The spectators all think we're “out of control” 90 per cent of the time….Truth is, it's no more than 85 per cent of the time. I mostly have some control down the straights” (Ferrous Head on Sidecar Racing)

Encouragement

My gut says the possibility of hero to zero is very real, or it may last forever. You pays ur monies and takes ur chances. (DR DICK)

Success represents the 1% of your work which results from the 99% that is called failure (Soichiro Honda)

Engineers design things, Technicians make them work: (tmack-1)

30% of being mechanical is confidence

30% is knowing to go slow when needed

30% is looking repeatedly at what you have

10% is dumb luck .

The drive to better(ing) the way something works stands on its own. (Dr Dick)

It does bring rewards and usually thru a string of failures.

Those failures will illustrate areas where we didn't think of something.

It's thru those new understandings that we actually can make improvements.

An old man Honda said “There is no success for those who can not tolerate failure.”

Progress requires the belief that you can do better. That in and of itself requires confidence bordering on arrogance. With experience one usually gets more conservative, not less, and why most real advances come from guys not smart enough to stick with what works. (maru)

Screwing up is good as long as you recover from it. That's how you learn. (Dr Dick)

Criticism

Personally - the day that criticism, on its face, offends me is the day I start looking for sales down at the Jr Miss Dept of Dress Barn. (Dr Dick)

We learn by asking questions not by putting others down. (HarleyEngraver)

Oil Leaks

They refer to my bike as the Exxon Valdez (sifty)

Factory Service / Parts Manual

There is a saying here (at least where I live), that real man don't need a service manual or instruction (manual). He learns by doing and using an apparatus. To many of us (who could somehow read and write) it's a joke… But I hate to say that many men still thinks it's somehow shameful to use a manual. (twinspeed)

Factual factory based documentation is the base. Personal experience is an opinion. (brucstoudt)

All re-installation instructions begin at proper removal and, well, let just say there was nothing proper about what I just did. (mike3378)

We encourage all new members to get the factory manuals, both the parts catalog and the service manual.
We love to help but sometimes it is just too much to type in paragraphs from the manuals, describe the pics, etc. (Iron Mick)

Mechanics

Not all Harley techs are master technicians, in fact, a lot of them are dumbasses. I recommend buying the manual for it and doing a lot of stuff yourself. They are easy bikes to work on (in my opinion) and you will learn your bike's personality a lot quicker. (smackie)

When you sit on something that you built from parts, you're sitting on top of the world. (MDT)

If you want to work on your bike, you are going to have to buy tools. (XLXR)